Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1887-1890, 1887-07-27
LIGHTNING AND HAIL.
An Unexpected Storm-Queer Freaks
of Lightning in the Town
site Office.

Between half past nine and ten o'clock
IN the forenoon today, the clouds became
dark and the air heavy. The peculiar feel
ing which proceeds thunder and lightning
was very apparent. Soon rain begin to fall
and In a moment this was followed by
hailstones. They were not quite as large
IS pigeon eggs, but they were certainly as
big as buckshot and struck the windows
with considerable force. They drifted as
they fell and in places there were small
heaps nearly an inch high. The storm
lasted about ten minutes and was inter
mixed with a kind of sleet. No damage
is reported from the hailstones, which, un-
like the storm in August, 1885, broke no
windows and filled no rooms as they en-
tered through the broken glass. The hail
storm to-day cooled the air, and if it hasn't
harmed the growing crops the country
will be none the worse for it. As the
wind was light it is hoped that the wheat
has escaped damage.
VIVID FLASHES.
It was the lightning that caused alarm.
The the rumbling of thunder was positively
awful. Enlightened the horses as well as
men and women There seemed to be
flashes of lightning In all directions.
houses and trees assumed a new aspect in
presence of its vivid flashes. No serious
damage is reported, but the escapes We're
perhaps closer than can be definitely as
certained. At the townsite Office the
lightning came along the telephone wire
from the peak of the barn which it struck
and partly splintered. The lightning first
made a hole in the wire blind; then it cut
its way through the corner of the glass
and thence ran along the wire to the tele-
phone where it broke in pieces the receiv-
CT, scattering the pieces over the floor.
The lightning struck the wall and tore the
paper. Its course thence may be traced
by a burned track on the wallpaper,
which terminates near the safe where the
lightning made a small hole in the wall
and disappeared. Secretary Nichols was
standing near the safe at the moment and
fortunately escaped all injury. He felt
the immediate presence of the lightning,
butall was done so quickly that the light
ming had come and zone almost as o as
the floor. Had the lightning touched the
iron safe, considerable damage might have
been done to it and the whole building.
The lightning also made its way along
the telephone wire to MI. Rolfe's office
UyhoYa II fnro mort IF tho ruo1f- p,ror ~, -,
destructive course.
The disturbance elsewhere was light.
In the Park hotel, Jim Hunt, who had a
steel knife in his hand was slightly dis
turbed by the lightning. At MI. Burch's
house the lightning slightly damaged the
roof. Mr.. Burch was stunned for the mo-
ment.
DAMAGE AT MR.. GEHRING's.
During the hail-storm in the forenoon
the barn of Elder Cheering was struck by
lightning at the southeast corner. The
awful fluid tore large hole in the roof,
scattering broken fragments in all direc-
tons. A calf, the property of Rev. John
Reid, standing in the corner Of the barn
was instantly killed, the lightning tearing
up the ground beneath it. Elder Ghering's |
dairy foreman, Mr.. Lingenfelter, an old
time stage driver was standing a few feet |
from the calf. The sensation he describes |
have been peculiar. He felt, he
said, as 1t some one had hit him on the |
head with a heavy board, the board split
ting and scraping him all the way down
his body, arms and legs to the ground. |
He fell upon his knees almost stunned.
He had q narrow escape. A horse stand
ing in a stall also suffered from the shock. |